At last, a journal journey begins...

I have been threatening for some time to try out an art journal and have finally taken the plunge. For inspiration I am following Trish Bee's Alphabet Discovery Workshop although the group has now been running for a while. Just to make it as challenging as possible (!) I am using an altered book which is another project I have had on my to do list and old books are certainly something I can get my hands on pretty easily!!

So I spent some time randomly doing things to the book, removing pages, adding pull outs, creating niches, layers and pockets, in fact generally getting pretty handy with a craft knife. The workshop is going through the letters in a random order, which is kinda cool, because it means the finished book (because I will be having them in normal alphabetical order) should be quite random as well. The first letter is N, so after all the prep the time comes to actually put colour to the page and ..........

I am struck the artistic equivalent of dumb. Two days of staring blankly at the empty page and wondering if I really can do this. Things weren't helped by a crappy home and work week and I tell you this, not to elicit sympathy, but to explain my final choice of theme for the first page.



So, 'Nil desperandum' it became, and well, nothing is ever as bad as it seems is it? Even though this is just the first page in this book I have already become aware of a few technical difficulties of working in an altered book

- it is hard to stamp!! especially if you've cut holes in it everywhere, but have resolved that one.

- the paper in this book is very porous. Will prep better in future.
- distress inks and colour washes are very difficult to heat set!!! Didn't really think that one through lol. This is important if you want to add layers of colour without ending up with just mud. Or even use a white gel pen lol.

I could go on, but it's just one page. I did think I might write something on it (journal, get it?) along the lines of 'because you can't always see the way ahead', but didn't want to risk messing the whole thing up. Might do it later when I feel a bit more confident. Having got started, I have also nearly finished the next page but am not sure if I'm happy with it yet. It might need a little more work.

That's all for now!

Congratulations......

Genie!! You have won my halloween themed giveaway. Goodness knows when you'll get it with the post the way it is but I am getting to the PO tomorrow come hell or high water!! Have to say have had no problems here so far.

Thanks everyone for taking part, there will be another upload around the 9th November but at the moment I am dithering a bit about what to use..... oh well, you'll have to stay in suspenders until then.

October giveaway.......is here!!

It's been a busy month, lots of trips away from home, plus extra hours at the library, a garden to plant, decks to scrub, a wedding to go to (aargh, just remembered - no card!!!!!!) ..... will be quite glad to get to the end of October when it should be a bit quieter!!

So, hadn't had any inspiration for a little something to do for this month until I went to a craft meet in Horsham last week. A lovely exploding box was demo'd by my friend Joan (under the watchful eye of the wonderful Trudy lol) and it gave me an idea for something a bit different.

Here it is 'unexploded'.



Now Joan's original was wonderfully elegant, but I had half an idea that I should do something Halloweeney (original I know). However, I'm not a great fan of all things creepy and I don't have much relevant stuff in my stash - but did find a few good images that must have been donated as 'goodies' with a trade at some stage (thanks whoever it was!!), managed to scrape up a cobweb stamp and a bat's wings stamp and I was off. Joan's original has a decorative central feature inside the open box, with grasses, pretty miniature flowers and butterflies - mine has a slightly more macabre looking fire complete with witches cauldron. Here it is opened up:



So this is the giveaway for October, and so that it has a chance to get to the poor recipient before Halloween(post strikes permitting), the giveaway will close on Sunday 25th at 8.00 pm. If you want to be included in the draw then leave a message to that effect on this post before then - as usual will try to pop round to see anyone who visits but apologies if I don't make it!!



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Colours of Autumn....

are around us this week as the summer draws to a close. It is also the them for Tuesday Taggers this week.

I am off for a craft meet in Horsham tomorrow, and we have the option to take something crafty to exchange with another crafter. Having had the usual blank mind syndrome, I suddenly decided that I wanted to try and paint another little 'Kelly Rae Roberts' figure and use an old frame I had. My intention was to do a kind of shadow box effect sans glass, but when it came to deconstructing the frame I could not remove the glass without breaking it so it had to stay. Here is the result.



I decided to use a piece of waste from a bit of resist embossing for the lady's skirt - it had been in my spray box and had nice autumnal colours, which is why I thought it could do for my TT entry this week. The leaves were stamped and cut out from another bit of paper in the box (!) and the seed bits were liberated from a bowl of pot pourri. My OH says its a bit twee, but what does he know!!

Here it is in the box frame (I wonder if I should have painted it black? mmm too late now):-



This is something else I am taking with me...



Can you tell what it is? Well these are the RAKS I have made for the meet, to have a look go here.

Well all I have to do now is sort out something crafty with me to do tomorrow. At the moment I don't have the first idea. I suppose there's always christmas cards....

And the winner is.........

Sussie a fellow crafter from Sweden. Hi Susan!! Looks like it was first time lucky for you after all, I hope that you enjoy your 'prize'. I have your addy so will pop it in the post for you some time this week.

Have a good day everyone whatever you are doing. I hope to be spending a few happy hours in my little craft room today. Thanks for taking part in my giveaway - October's will be uploaded around the 11th October so keep a look out!!

A good days work......

Went to Ally Pally on Sunday and got lots of new goodies but haven't had time to play till today!! Spent all day Monday doing the dreaded HW and also scrubbing my deck so that it can be treated ready for the winter - so today I was completed exhausted and ready for a quiet day in my craft room, but rather than start anything new, I opted to finish off some bits that were lying around my craft room.



First of all I used some nice new ribbons I got at AP to finish off this ribbon doll for the GAS MAMMA challenge. I really like the way she's turned out. Her wings are made from a paisley stamp I have never used before and to get the 'set' I needed to try out reverse or double stamping ie to get both wings I needed to stamp it in both directions. After several false starts, I finally got it to work by stamping with versafine on to a piece of ordinary plastic wrapping (like a card bag) and then quickly sticking a piece of card on top. You need the image to be quite wet, but not so wet it will smudge. I have to say, despite trying out all sorts I am rapidly coming to the opinion that versafine are the best ink pads - they are always so juicy. The one I used I have been stamping with for well over a year, it was the first pad I ever bought and still going strong.

I had started the backgrounds on a couple of tags at a distress workshop the other week and thought I would finish them off. After checking in at Tuesday Taggers, I saw this weeks challenge was trees so added an image from a Crafty Individuals stamp, plus some text. The text was a new purchase (don't ask, I will not divulge how many new stamps I bought at AP) and is a Clarity stamp, I was really impressed with how nice an impression it made on a difficult surface. This weeks challenge is sponsored by the Craft Barn, so you could win goodies if you take part!!!



I just found a nice image to go on the second one, with a grungeboard heart. I thought the little word stamp said 'Bella' but in fact it says Belle, but fortunately I think it still works lol!!



Quick reminder that you have another day to join in for this month's giveaway (see side bar for link) - I have to work tomorrow until the evening so may not make the draw until late.....

Sepia challenge

These two ATCs are my entry to this week's challenge at Tuesday Taggers which is 'Sepia'. I had two little practice pieces painted with crackle paints which I stamped with two images using staz-on - they came out suitably 'distressed' and since I finished it a bit more of the crackle has fallen off but I was aiming for that kind of look..... well that's my excuse. The challenge this week is sponsored by The Stampman There are £15 worth of vouchers up for grabs and there are some lovely entries from the design team, including a fantastic mini suitcase with a travel book inside. Do have a look.



I made these tags today for a challenge on the Docrafts forum. They are loosely based on an article in this month's craft stamper and were really fun and quick to do (well, if you ignore the inevitable fight to set my ancient sewing machine up). Basically I just found a load of scraps and put them randomly on some iron on interfacing, ironed them on (!) and then sort of crazy stitched with the machine all over it. The main image was stamped on to tissue paper (although fabric would have been nice too) and then attched by stitching. I then used a needle & thread (my mother would be proud) to do a little bit of hand stitched beading and attach some embellies before mounting on another piece of black card (well the back was a bit of a mess). Voila!! I have left the sewing machine out in case I get the urge to make some more...